Everybody is Welcome at Mount Moriah.
For over 130 years, Mount Moriah has served as a Progressive Witness of Jesus Christ in Pembroke and North Bryan County. At Mount Moriah, you find yourself in a warm and welcoming environment that will allow you to experience real folks abiding in community, loving each other, and serving God. As a small congregation in a beautiful rural setting, we have convenient parking located near the front entrance for our first-time guests. Our Mount Moriah Ushers will be glad to help you find a seat for the worship service.
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Beyond hospitality, Mount Moriah is committed to being Christian stewards of love. As such, we practice love, build the beloved community, and pursue social justice. We believe the overwhelming message of the Bible, in story after story, is that of God's radical love and welcome. Every time we think we know who's in and who's out, God does something to challenge those assumptions, unbind our hearts and minds from old ways of understanding, and draw the circle ever wider.
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Our doors are wide open to people from all backgrounds, regardless of where they are on their spiritual journey. Together, we are striving to become a place where there's relevant teaching, heart-felt worship, honest friendships, constant prayer, and compassionate care. So whether you are a spiritual seeker who is just starting to ask questions about God or a committed Christian who wants to sink the roots of your faith even deeper, you can find a home here at Mount Moriah!
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Enjoy Connection
THROUGH WORSHIP | Sunday services start at Noon, following Sunday School, on the First, Second, and Fourth Sundays. Learn more.
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THROUGH STUDY | Sunday School for all ages begins at 11:30 a.m. Additionally, there is a Morning Devotion every Wednesday at 6:30 am. Just dial 717.908.1726 and use Passcode 1065315# to participate. Learn more.
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THROUGH SERVICE | One of the most important values of Mount Moriah is our mission to the Pembroke community. Mount Moriah's members are involved in a variety of church-based ministries and community partnerships. Feel free to contact our Church Clerk with further questions.
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Fifth Sunday Selah: Rooted Enough to Rest
Every Fifth Sunday is Selah. Selah is a sacred pause. It reminds us that everything does not have to move, produce, perform, or prove itself all the time. Scripture teaches us that rest is part of God’s design. God rested after creation. Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath. In Deuteronomy, that command was rooted in liberation: remember that you were once enslaved in Egypt. Sabbath declared that Pharaoh no longer controlled their time, their bodies, or their labor.
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That matters for us.
Our people know what it means to be valued by how much we can carry, how long we can endure, and how much we can produce. Our ancestors survived systems that demanded their labor while denying their humanity. Yet they still found ways to pray, sing, gather, laugh, eat together, tell stories, and create joy.
Rest, then, is not laziness. Rest can be resistance. It is a declaration that I am more than what I produce. My worth does not rise and fall with my productivity. My body is worthy of care. My spirit is worthy of renewal. My life belongs to God. That is why Selah is essential to #Rooted2Rise.
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A tree cannot keep reaching upward if its roots are neglected. Some of the most important growth happens where nobody can see it, beneath the surface, in stillness and quiet. Prayer deepens the roots. Reflection examines the roots. Gratitude strengthens the roots. Community protects the roots. Rest restores the roots.
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So on Fifth Sundays, we intentionally make room to pause, pray, reflect, reconnect, and rest. Jesus told his disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a while.” That remains the invitation of Selah. Come away. Not forever. Just long enough to breathe again. Long enough to hear God again. Long enough to remember who you are when you are not working, serving, fixing, carrying, or producing. Sometimes rest is the ministry. And sometimes, before God takes us higher, God calls us deeper.Be still. Be restored. Be rooted. Then rise.
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#Rooted2Rise
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Lifelong Learning Is a Gift of Pentecost
Pentecost is not only the miracle of speaking. It is also the miracle of hearing, understanding, and becoming open to truth. The Spirit moved across languages, cultures, generations, and experiences without requiring people to surrender their identities. Pentecost teaches us that God can create community without demanding sameness.
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For this reason, lifelong learning is a Pentecost gift.
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The Holy Spirit enlarges our understanding, challenges our assumptions, awakens curiosity, and leads us deeper into truth. A Spirit-filled church must therefore be a learning church. We must study Scripture, history, science, culture, and the world we are called to serve.
For African Americans, learning has always meant more than personal advancement. Our ancestors pursued literacy when education was forbidden because they understood that knowledge could challenge bondage. They learned, taught one another, preserved memory, and read Scripture as an oppressed people seeking freedom.
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The Black Church continued that tradition. It became sanctuary, schoolhouse, organizing center, and training ground for generations of leaders. It taught our people to read both the Bible and the world.
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That same commitment helped build and sustain Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Georgia’s HBCUs continue educating teachers, ministers, physicians, attorneys, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and public servants. The historic relationship between the Black Church and the HBCU must remain a living covenant.
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Our churches must support students through scholarships, mentoring, internships, prayer, encouragement, and sustained relationships with HBCUs. We are heirs of people who learned when learning was dangerous and built schools when resources were scarce. Now the responsibility is ours. Pentecost calls us to open our mouths, but also our minds. The Spirit is still teaching. The Church must remain teachable.
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We are #Rooted2Rise by Growing from the Ground Up!
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Pastor’s Book Recommendation
The Pink Robe Chronicles: Womanist Wisdom for Healing, Liberation, and Love by Rev. Dr. Melva L. Sampson
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This month, Mount Moriah is encouraged to read and reflect on The Pink Robe Chronicles, a work that brings together womanist wisdom, lived experience, healing, liberation, rest, memory, and faith.
The book invites us to consider what it means to honor our bodies, tell the truth about our wounds, embrace rest without guilt, and pursue a faith that leads toward wholeness rather than exhaustion.
As we continue our emphasis on lifelong learning, this recommendation reminds us that spiritual growth also requires reflection, honest self-examination, and the courage to learn from voices that help us see faith and freedom more clearly. Read slowly. Reflect deeply. Ask what God may be teaching you about healing, liberation, love, and the life you are being called to live.
Progress Report
This season at Mount Moriah, we walked the road from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday with purpose—and with power.
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Palm Sunday reminded us that Jesus did not enter quietly. He came as a disruption. He came as a declaration. He came announcing a different kind of kingdom—one that challenges injustice and lifts the lowly. And we did not just wave palms—we aligned ourselves with that kind of love.
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But this year, we did more than remember. We witnessed a repair.
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In the midst of renovation, we returned to a revived sanctuary—renewed space, restored beauty, and a living testimony that God is not finished with us yet. Because the same God who raises the dead is the God who repairs what is broken.
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Easter is not just about empty tombs. It is about recovery—recovering what was worn down. It is about healing—healing what has been wounded. It is about repair—restoring what needed fixing.
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And so we celebrated under this truth: No Greater Love. A love that sacrifices. A love that redeems. A love that refuses to let death, despair, or division have the final word.
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If you are looking for a place to grow your family in faith, to wrestle with real life in honest community, and to prepare for what lies ahead—this is your invitation.
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We are Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. We are Rooted to Rise.
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And there is room for you here. Join us.
About Community
Established in 1890, the Mount Moriah Baptist Church has stood as a physical representation of the hope and determination of the African-American spirit. Through the years as a school, community center, and civil rights organizing meeting hall, Mount Moriah has always served people through its Watch, Witness, and Worship.
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At Mount Moriah, all our resources are utilized to provide a Christ-centered setting where people in this community can be redeemed to a personal relationship with Christ, reconciled to God and his people, restored to wholeness, to well-being, and revived for a full life involved in service to others.
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At Mount Moriah, you can be redeemed, reconciled, restored, and revived. Let's go!
Show Your Pride
Show your Mount Moriah pride wherever you go! Visit The Mount Moriah Shop to browse exclusive shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, and other items that celebrate our church’s spirit of faith, service, and community.
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We are proud to partner with Black- and minority-owned businesses to source, produce, and distribute our products — keeping our ministry rooted in economic justice and community empowerment. Every purchase supports the ministries and mission of Mount Moriah Baptist Church.
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The Reverend Dr. Francys Johnson well serves Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. The pulpit of Mount Moriah has long provided community-wide leadership.
Over the last 25 years, Dr. Johnson has also exemplified the values of Christian service with humility before the congregation of Pembroke. He is also the Senior Pastor of the Magnolia Baptist Church of Statesboro. First Lady Meca Williams-Johnson’s particular success in youth programming and academic mentoring is an asset to the ministries of Mount Moriah. Further, they are ambassadors of our faith community to the region and nation.